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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 02 October 2007 17:00 |
 Ninja with strange powers, a centuries-old blood feud, a Shogun who needs to decide on an heir, and the love between a man and woman on separate sides of the divide. Take one part Romeo & Juliet, one part Ninja Scroll, mix well, and you’ve got the basic idea of Basilisk. Expect bloodshed...
1 - Destiny / My Beloved, Please Die
1614, and the Tokugawa Shogunate's facing a succession crisis - two of the Shogun's sons are vying for power, each commanding the loyalty of sufficiently large factions that conflict seems certain. The Shogun has a solution: a battle between ninja clans representing each faction, historical rivals the Touga & Iga clans, will decide the succession. The leaders of the two camps are more than happy to return to war after years of enforced peace, but there's some history between them that may complicate matters a bit...
2 - Last Rendezvous / Dual Stirrings
The heirs to the Kouga and Iga clans, Gennosuke and Oboro, meet in a clearing - clearly very much in love, they're unaware that the enforced truce between their clans has been lifted, and that they're once again at war. Instead, they're looking forward to a time of peace that should be ushered in by their marriage, and making plans for their future together. Even when they're tracked down by representatives of their clans, they fail to break the news to them, but already the first confrontation between those named by each side has begun...
3 - The Onslaught of War / Deadly Insects, Cold Blood
Tenzen, leader of the Iga clan's warriors, receives the word of the renewed hostilities with the Kouga clan with more than a little enthusiasm - although he immediately decides that a "vainglorious" battle between just 10 named warriors would be no good at all. No, he's looking for something more memorable - and he doesn't want Oboro to realise that the war has been resumed. Shame he soon becomes an early victim of the war - but not before he issues some orders regarding Gennosuke's fate...
4 - The Horned Owl / A Night in Unearthly Quarters
Oboro and Gennosuke arrive back at the Iga village, where pretty much everyone is aware of the annulment of the peace with the Kouga clan, but still nobody is telling the young lovebirds, who as ever are looking forward to a time of peace. Late in the evening, while Oboro & Gennosuke enjoy some quality time together, Oboro's clansmen begin making plans to remove Gennosuke and his escort, Jousuke, from the picture...
On one level, Basilisk is a historical drama looking at the long-running and extremely violent rivalry between two clans – there are a number of scenes throughout these episodes that show just how much blood has been shed between them over the years, so it’s clear this is no simple feud but something much larger and harder to control. Ironically, Gennosuke and Oboro’s relationship isn’t the first time the clans have almost come together – years previously, the current heads of the clans, Danjou and Ogen, were in a similar position until a bloody raid by the Kouga on the Iga village put an end to their dalliance. Even now, the feelings are still there, but there’s just too much bad blood elsewhere for them to be the ones to bring the peace – they had been hoping their grandchildren would be able to do what they hadn’t, but the Shogun’s intervention puts an end to that hope, too.
As the central characters in the series, Gennosuke and Oboro are people you need to be able to connect to, and up to a point you can. Gennsouke is the strong, powerful yet honourable type, filling the stereotype of the ninja that’s been seen in anime so many times before. Oboro, unlike most in her clan, hasn’t been trained as a ninja and has turned out as a sweet and beautiful young woman – although she’s able to be firm when she needs to be, and has a unique ability: one look from her steely eyes, and a ninja will lose their abilities.
“Their abilities?”, you ask – which brings me neatly to probably my biggest gripe about Basilisk. The ninja of the Kouga and Iga clans aren’t your typical ninja, fighting with guile and human physical ability – instead, each has their own mystical ability that makes them a formidable fighting machine and often gives them aspects of animals or some other physical deformation – from the man who looks more like a spider and who can trap his opponent in webs shot from his mouth, to another who appears heavily overweight but has most of the properties of a high-bounce rubber ball, very few of the fighters on show are what I’d call “normal”. It’s a gimmick that’s used quite often in ninja shows, presumably to liven the battles up a bit so that there’s more possibility to make them different or more exciting, but it’s an idea that’s never really worked for me. Your own mileage may vary, but it’s such a central part of the series that if you don’t appreciate that style of fighting scene, then it’s going to affect your enjoyment of the show.
The fighting – and the scheming that goes on around it – also takes up so much of the available time that there’s very little left for developing the characters. Gennosuke and Oboro get enough screentime that you’re able to pick op on their basic personalities, but nothing more than that. The rest of the cast seem to be there simply to fight, and have cardboard-thin personalities, with little more than an aura of just how evil they are to differentiate them (beyond Gennosuke and Oboro, pretty much everyone in Basilisk seems to be portrayed as evil to some extent or another).
I can see the appeal of Basilisk, and can appreciate that there’s a large chunk of fandom out there who will lap the series up, but personally I’d like to see more of an emphasis on the characters, less on the fighting, and more depth to the story. On the plus side, it’s very well presented, with very nicely detailed animation and character designs, and some very nice pieces of music used at points. It could easily have been much better, though.
With its heavy reliance on fighting and violence, Basilisk is squarely targeted at a particular section of anime fans. If you’re looking for something that’s more plot- or character-based, this volume doesn’t really provide that, although there are some hooks here that could be used to bring a less action-oriented side into the show later on, and I hope that happens. In the meantime, though, Basilisk is great for action fans, less so if you want something more.
Watch the trailer for this release
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